There was silence. Tabassum almost didn’t notice the stillness anymore, they had gotten used to it. The once bustling and bright estate was now barren; the neighboring desert was making its move to reclaim the space, white sand covered everything from the once shining painted glass windows to the lavish tapestries adorning the walls of the estate.Tabassum walked through the halls alone, on their way to the kitchens to see if the rumor that their chef had fled in the night was true. Suddenly, while turning the corner into the great dining hall, they stopped short. A horribly acrid smell assaulted Tabassum’s nostrils and they almost gagged. In front of them was a broken window and below it a yellow pool of stale piss. Another charming gift from the townspeople of Effri. Tabassum exhaled through their mouth, tore their eyes from the crude vandalism meant to humiliate more than harm, and purposefully walked on.--As Tabassum lay in their bed, waiting for a sleep they knew would not come for hours yet, Tabassum heard a fragile tap on their bedroom door. Looking up, it was their grandmother. Thin as a leaf and with grey hair like a bird’s nest, the matriarch of what was left of the Al-Ettri clan huddled up to Tabassum and lay down on the bed.“I dreamt of your father, Taba. He was very handsome, wasn’t he? My most handsome son. And so kind, too, Taba. So kind…” she prattled on, resting in Tabassum’s lap.Tabassum, used to these nightly visits, simply stroked their grandmother’s hair until she fell asleep, mumbling of a happier time. Tabassum cried silent tears in the dark, for their family, for what had been lost, and for the impotent rage that simmered just beneath the surface of Tabassum’s carefully sculpted façade.They vowed to set things right. However they could, they would restore honor and pride to their family name. No matter the cost.--The path was certain. A messenger had come bearing the best news of Tabassum’s short life. A chance, a way to reclaim glory for their family. Tabassum’s head was spinning as they carefully read the instructions for Refrain and what was needed to make it.The path was certain.--

Tabassum’s grandmother, in her nightclothes still, anxiously watched as her only grandchild swallowed the bottle of Refrain, made by an Eirwennian travelling alchemist for an exorbitant fee they could scarcely afford. She screeched in fear when Tabassum started convulsing on the floor, shaking up sand and dust in the air. In the end, however, the spasms ended and Tabassum opened their eyes. No longer were they the dark brown of his fathers, but a pale grey.A smile, for the first time in years, was dancing across their face.--There wasn’t much to say goodbye to when it came down to it. Tabassum made sure to pay the servants who cared for their grandmother so they would continue doing so, they scratched the head of their favorite cat and hugged their grandmother for as long as they could stand.On the finest of their family’s horses, Tabassum rode out from the estate at a measured pace, and didn’t look back.And suddenly, home wasn’t home anymore, it was just another thing Tabassum had left behind them. The path was certain, and that path led ever onward.